Basic level: This level is for a period of nine years and it comprises of Primary Education and Junior Secondary Education. Post basic level

Post basic level: This level is to last for and it covers 3 years Senior Secondary School Education.

Tertiary level: This level deals with all forms of schooling beyond the secondary education.

At the basic level, a one year Kindergarten or ECCE class and Primary education are components of the lower basic while junior secondary education is the component of the upper basic. However, the primary education component has been described in the National Policy on Education (FRN, 2013) as the education given in institutions for children aged 6 to 11 plus.

The policy also emphasized that, it is foundation of the whole system of education in Nigeria, and that since the rest of the education system is built upon it, the primary level is the key to the success or failure of the whole system. Moreover, the National Policy on Education stated the goals of primary education in Nigeria to include the followings:

1. 
   Inculcation of permanent literacy and numeracy and ability to communicate effectively;
   
2. 
   Laying of a sound basis for scientific and reflective thinking;
   
3. 
   Giving citizenship education as a basis for effective participation in and contribution to the life of the society;
   
4. 
   Molding the character and developing sound attitude and morals in the child;
   
5. 
   Developing in the child ability to adapt to the child's changing environment;
   
6. 
   Giving the child opportunities for developing manipulative skills that will enable the child function effectively in the society within the limits of the child's capacity;
   
7. 
   Providing the child with basic tools for further educational advancement, including preparation for trades and craft of the locality.
   

Today, primary education in Nigeria is the most neglected level of education compounded with so many problems ranging from quality versus quantity, inadequate manpower, gaps in the curricular, lack of adequate instructional materials and equipment, etc.

According to the policy the mother tongue of the child should be used as medium of instruction from P1-P3 and English should be taught as a language from P1-P3 respectively. However, from P-4 the medium of instruction should be the English language.

The reality on the ground showed that, today, most of the private primary schools in Nigeria replace mother tongue with English language in given instruction from P1-P3 whereas most of public schools give their entire instruction from P1-P6 in the Mother tongue. Both practices contradict the national policy of education of the country.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Despite the huge importance of reading for educational achievement reading is still not taught as a skill in Nigerian education system

Today in Nigeria majority of the primary school leavers find it difficult to read effectively a given text. As a result of this problem there is constant dissatisfaction from the parents and teachers alike on the falling standard of educational performance at primary level of schooling. Moreover, lack of adequate data on level of literacy of primary school children may probably delay the efforts of government in improving literacy among primary school children through present approach in collaboration with USAID in training and retraining of P1-P3 language teachers with the Reading Component Skills at Early Grade Level.

However, experiences of parents and teachers as well as studies conducted in recent times indicated that most primary school leavers in Nigeria are illiterates or semi-illiterates. For instance, recent studies conducted in northern Nigeria on the reading abilities of primary school pupils revealed that very few pupils learn how to read in English or language of the environment in the early grades.

Almost 250 million pupils around the world today have the difficulty in reading with comprehension. Even though, Most of these children are currently in schools some at grade 2, some 3, and others at grade 4, (Global Reading Network, 2017).

Moreover, issues such as, school attendance (teachers and pupils), access to books and teaching/learning materials, teacher preparation, deployment, and professional development, and indigenous languages for reading instruction, has been put forward as the current challenges for realizing reading skilled pupils in northern states, Nigeria, (Barnes,2019). In addition, recent research results have confirmed that, there is low level of achievement in reading by different categories of learners in Nigerians’ primary schools. For example, the sampled pupils on the assessment of reading skills in the five northern states of Bauchi, Katsina, Niger, Zamfara and Sokoto showed that, “in both Hausa and English over 90 percent of Grade 2 pupils assessed displayed literacy levels associated with pre-school pupils. Furthermore, most of these pupils are a long way from the cut-off for emerging literacy skills” (Pellens, 2016). In another result of an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) test administered to Grade 4 (Primary School Class 4) pupils in 26 Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAS) in Bauchi and Sokoto State in June 2010 under the Northern Nigeria Education Initiative (NEI), a USAID supported intervention project revealed that, even “after four years of schooling, most pupils are not gaining the foundational reading skills necessary by the time they are in P4, the grade at which the medium of instruction- and learning – is English” (NEI, 2011, P.3).